New materialisms argue for a more science-friendly humanities, addressing questions about methodology, subject matter and the importance of things other than humans in areas such as climate, biology, affect, geology, animals and objects. This collection of essays is in kinship with this radical shake-up of how and what we study - and it also aims to re-navigate what constitutes materiality. These efforts are summed up by a rewriting of the Derridean axiom'there is no outside text'as'there is no outside nature. (source: Nielsen Book Data) 9781474419291 20170424

A brilliant introduction to the philosophical concept of materialism and its relevance to contemporary science and culture In this eye-opening, intellectually stimulating appreciation of a fascinating school of philosophy, Terry Eagleton makes a powerful argument that materialism is at the center of today's important scientific and cultural as well as philosophical debates. The author reveals entirely fresh ways of considering the values and beliefs of three very different materialists-Marx, Nietzsche, and Wittgenstein-drawing striking comparisons between their philosophies while reflecting on a wide array of topics, from ideology and history to language, ethics, and the aesthetic. Cogently demonstrating how it is our bodies and corporeal activity that make thought and consciousness possible, Eagleton's book is a valuable exposition on philosophic thought that strikes to the heart of how we think about ourselves and live in the world. (source: Nielsen Book Data) 9780300218800 20170220

A brilliant introduction to the philosophical concept of materialism and its relevance to contemporary science and culture In this eye-opening, intellectually stimulating appreciation of a fascinating school of philosophy, Terry Eagleton makes a powerful argument that materialism is at the center of today's important scientific and cultural as well as philosophical debates. The author reveals entirely fresh ways of considering the values and beliefs of three very different materialists-Marx, Nietzsche, and Wittgenstein-drawing striking comparisons between their philosophies while reflecting on a wide array of topics, from ideology and history to language, ethics, and the aesthetic. Cogently demonstrating how it is our bodies and corporeal activity that make thought and consciousness possible, Eagleton's book is a valuable exposition on philosophic thought that strikes to the heart of how we think about ourselves and live in the world. (source: Nielsen Book Data) 9780300218800 20170821

Physicalism, the thesis that everything is physical, is one of the most controversial problems in philosophy. Its adherents argue that there is no more important doctrine in philosophy, whilst its opponents claim that its role is greatly exaggerated. In this superb introduction to the problem Daniel Stoljar focuses on three fundamental questions: the interpretation, truth and philosophical significance of physicalism. In answering these questions he covers the following key topics: a brief history of physicalism and its definitions what a physical property is and how physicalism meets challenges from empirical sciences 'Hempel's dilemma' and the relationship between physicalism and physics physicalism and key debates in metaphysics and philosophy of mind, such as supervenience, identity and conceivability physicalism and causality. Additional features include chapter summaries, annotated further reading and a glossary of technical terms, making Physicalism ideal for those coming to the problem for the first time. (source: Nielsen Book Data) 9780415452625 20160604

15. Materialism, Minimal Emergentism, and the Hard Problem of Consciousness

16. Dualizing Materialism

17. Dualistic Materialism

18. Varieties of Naturalism

19. Against Methodological Materialism

20. Soul, Mind and Brain

21. Materialism Does Not Save the Phenomena - and the Alternative Which Does

22. Substance Dualism: A Non-Cartesian Approach

Bibliography

Index.

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Twenty-three philosophers examine the doctrine of materialism find it wanting. The case against materialism comprises arguments from conscious experience, from the unity and identity of the person, from intentionality, mental causation, and knowledge. The contributors include leaders in the fields of philosophy of mind, metaphysics, ontology, and epistemology, who respond ably to the most recent versions and defences of materialism. The modal arguments of Kripke and Chalmers, Jackson>'s knowledge argument, Kim>'s exclusion problem, and Burge>'s anti-individualism all play a part in the building of a powerful cumulative case against the materialist research program. Several papers address the implications of contemporary brain and cognitive research (the psychophysics of color perception, blindsight, and the effects of commissurotomies), adding a posteriori arguments to the classical a priori critique of reductionism. All of the current versions of materialism - reductive and non-reductive, functionalist, eliminativist, and new wave materialism - come under sustained and trenchant attack. In addition, a wide variety of alternatives to the materialist conception of the person receive new and illuminating attention, including anti-materialist versions of naturalism, property dualism, Aristotelian and Thomistic hylomorphism, and non-Cartesian accounts of substance dualism. (source: Nielsen Book Data) 9780199556199 20160604

Introduction1. Can Computers be Conscious?2. Robots and Zombies3. The Symphony of Consciousness4. Can Brains Think?5. Free Will6. Why is One Better than Two?7. Idealism and the Creative Power of the Mind8. Consciousness and Quantum Theory9. Where is Consciousness Located?10. Design11. Creation and Eternity12. Scientists of the SoulConclusion.

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Materialists claim that the mind, consciousness, life, evolution and the universe can be explained as the purposeless dance of unconscious particles, governed by chance. This book asks, does materialism make sense? Graham Dunstan Martin delves into areas as diverse as quantum physics, cosmology, artificial intelligence, brain science, biology, mysticism and philosophy, to assess the probabilities that the materialists are right. Are we, he asks, living souls? Does our universe in fact have a Designer? He concludes that computers will never become conscious; that the mind is not the same as the brain; that we genuinely and creatively possess free will; and that our experience of diverse levels of consciousness simply cannot be explained by materialism. This book is for all enquiring minds who are dissatisfied with the current reigning creed. (source: Nielsen Book Data) 9780863155338 20160528

A Physicalist Manifesto is a full treatment of the comprehensive physicalist view that, in some important sense, everything is physical. Andrew Melnyk argues that the view is best formulated by appeal to a carefully worked-out notion of realization, rather than supervenience; that, so formulated, physicalism must be importantly reductionist; that it need not repudiate causal and explanatory claims framed in non-physical language; and that it has the a posteriori epistemic status of a broad-scope scientific hypothesis. Two concluding chapters argue in detail that contemporary science provides no significant empirical evidence against physicalism and some considerable evidence for it. Written in a brisk, candid and exceptionally clear style, this 2003 book should appeal to professionals and students in philosophy of mind, metaphysics and philosophy of science. (source: Nielsen Book Data) 9780521827119 20180521

A Physicalist Manifesto is a full treatment of the comprehensive physicalist view that, in some important sense, everything is physical. Andrew Melnyk argues that the view is best formulated by appeal to a carefully worked-out notion of realization, rather than supervenience; that, so formulated, physicalism must be importantly reductionist; that it need not repudiate causal and explanatory claims framed in non-physical language; and that it has the a posteriori epistemic status of a broad-scope scientific hypothesis. Two concluding chapters argue in detail that contemporary science provides no significant empirical evidence against physicalism and some considerable evidence for it. Written in a brisk, candid and exceptionally clear style, this 2003 book should appeal to professionals and students in philosophy of mind, metaphysics and philosophy of science. (source: Nielsen Book Data) 9780521827119 20180521

Physicalism has over the past 20 years become almost an orthodoxy, especially in the philosophy of mind. Many philosophers, however, feel uneasy about this development, and this volume is intended as a collective response to it. Together these papers, written by philosophers from Britain, the US and Australia show that physicalism faces enormous problems in every area in which it is discussed. The contributors not only investigate the well-known difficulties that physicalism has in acccomodating sensory consciousness, but also bring out its inadequacies in dealing with thought, intentionality, abstract objects (such as numbers), and principles of both theoretical and practical reason; even its ability to cope with the physical works itself is called into question. Both strong "reductionist" versions and weaker "supervenience" theories are discussed and found to face different but equally formidable obstacles. The impression with which these essays seek to leave the reader is that the advance of physicalism has been achieved more by talking down the problems that face it than by solving them. This book should be of interest to professional philosophers and students (second-year undergraduate and above) interested in the philosophy of mind. (source: Nielsen Book Data) 9780198242567 20160527